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休斯顿城市扩张导致野生动物失去家园

Houston, Texas, and its surrounding suburbs are growing fast and sprawling² out into natural forest areas that are the habitat for many species of indigenous³ wildlife. Local leaders as well as environmentalists are seeking some sort of balance between growth and preservation⁴ of nature.  But time is running out.

德克萨斯州的休斯顿及其郊区在迅速膨胀，已经扩张到周围的自然森林区域，那里是当地许多野生动物的栖息地。当地的许多领导人以及环保主义正在寻求途径，希望在城市扩张和自然保护方面找到某种平衡，但是时间有点来不及了。

On a ranch⁵ in the woods northwest of Houston, several young deer who were left orphaned⁶ when their mother was killed, are growing to maturity⁷ within a safe, fenced-off area.

这是休斯顿西北的一个林间牧场。因为母鹿被杀，几只小鹿成了孤儿。他们在这个安全的、由栅栏围着的地方生活。

Nearby,  at the Friends of Texas Wildlife Center northwest of Houston, volunteers help care for a variety of injured animals. There, a red-tailed hawk⁸ is recovering from what may have been a collision with a glass window.

附近不远处，也在休斯顿的西北是德克萨斯野生动物之友中心。在这里，志愿者帮助看护多种受伤的动物。这只红尾巴的鹰可能是因为撞上了玻璃窗弄伤了翅膀，正在恢复中。

Center Director Lisa Wolling is helping⁹ him exercise his wings so he can be returned to his natural world.

中心的主任丽莎?沃宁正在帮组它锻炼翅膀，以便他可以重返大自然。

"He needs to be in this flight area to be able to [be in] flight condition and get his endurance back up," she said.

沃宁说：“他需要在这个可以飞行的地方，保持能够飞行的状态，然后，恢复自己的耐力。”

Animals throughout this area are facing a crisis as developers build more homes and more roads to link them to Houston.

由于开发商在修建越来越多的房屋以及连接休斯顿的公路，整个地区的动物都正面临一场危机。

Friends of Texas Wildlife President Janette Winkelmann says her privately-funded organization can only help a small percentage of the displaced animals.

德州野生动物之友中心主席詹妮特?温克尔曼说，她的这个机构是私人赞助的，他们只能收留很少一部分流离失所的动物。

"They have nowhere to go. They end up on the street, they end up running around in people's yards," she said.

温克尔曼说：“他们无处可去。他们最后流落到街头，或者居民的院子里。”

Because land is relatively¹⁰ cheap and abundant around Houston, the metropolitan¹¹ area sprawls¹² out in every direction.

因为休斯顿附近的土地资源丰富，价格相对低廉，城市迅速向各个方向扩张。

"You can actually fit the cities of New York, Washington, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis and Miami inside Houston," explains Ann Taylor, executive director at the Houston office of the Urban Land Institute, a non-profit group devoted¹³ to urban planning and development.

安妮?泰勒是城市土地机构休斯顿办公室的执行总监，这是一个非盈利机构，致力于城市规划和发展。泰勒说： “实际上， 你可以将纽约、华盛顿、波斯顿、旧金山、明尼阿波利斯、西雅图、迈阿密等城市容纳进休斯顿。”

The answer, she says, is to promote more density¹⁴.

她说，答案就是，让人口居住得更加稠密一点。

"That is one of the keys: to put more people on less space so that you can preserve more of the natural environment," she said.

泰勒说：“这是其中的一个解决办法。将更多的人纳入更少的地方， 这样你就会保护更多的自然环境。”

The city has made efforts to create more parks and nature areas, as have some of the suburbs like The Woodlands, where the master plan included preservation of trees.

休斯顿为此也做出了努力 ，他们修建了更多的公园和自然保护区。像伍德兰德这样的自然区域，他们在这里的“大计划”是保护树木。

But Houston's economic success creates a big challenge, says Taylor.

不过，泰勒说，休斯顿的经济成功形成了一个大的挑战。

"We know that in the next 15 or so years we are going to add another two and a half million people to our population, and they have got to go somewhere," she said.

泰勒说：“我们知道，未来15年，我们的人口将增加250万人，他们需要住的地方。”

The good news is that many young professionals and entrepreneurs prefer living in areas near downtown, where they can walk to many attractions.

好的消息是，许多年轻的专业人士和企业界人士希望住在市中心附近，这样他们就可以步行去很多有趣的地方。

Developing more city dwellings¹⁵ and less outward sprawl¹ could be the key to giving the area's wildlife more room to survive.

让更多的人在城里居住，更少向外扩张可能是给野生动物更多空间生存的关键。